Fireflies over Rice Paddies
by Eva-sama
Summary: A story of ninja life, love, and regret. Original characters, and something new. Title refers to the worst story ever, Ecology of Magic, but it fit here. Review, onegai shimasu, gentle readers. This is PG 13, but I figured I'd be safe.
1. Chapter 1

This is purely original character, sorry fans, and will stay that way. That said, for those of you still here, this is one of my favorite stories ever, dreampt up between myself and a friend of mine. The characters here are connected with the lives of ones you know and love, in that crazy way that can only happen in fanfiction, and I may start on another story after I finish this one. I invite you into this world, please enjoy, and leave your name on the way out.

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Pain. That was all there was. I passed out and awoke more times than I could count, which at this point, was anything more than three. By coincidence, this was how many attackers beat me, growling out insults before resuming with even less mercy. They hit me until I was sprawled, back up in the dirt, unable to protect myself. As if I could to begin with; these were trained ninja, as I knew all too well.

It seemed as if this went on for hours, though it was probably closer to half of one. I lay there, unable to escape or fight back. There was no use in struggling or trying to talk them out of this, and so she was better off playing unconsciousness, hoping they'd simply lose interest.

"This bag isn't even worth it anymore. We should just kill her now." One of the men surrounding her said as he jabbed at her belly with his foot.

"The slut needs to pay." The second one hissed through clenched teeth.

"You are just jealous because she wouldn't let you up her skirt Yama-kun." The first ninja chided. "And it is a good thing too, she ended up being a whore to begin with." He spat on her bloodstained face, still goading no reaction from the woman on the ground.

"As I said, let's kill her now." The third ninja shot out, turning the pole he held around, a small blade attached that he pointed at her.

The woman suddenly moved, surprising the three men into a step backwards as she sat up slowly, tucking her skirted legs beneath her. She was covered in various blood and dirt stains, scratches visible on her bare feet, attesting to how far she'd run to get away from them. Her clothes were torn, a few joints were off, and a few joints seemed to have been created where things should not bend. It seemed though that even without multiple injuries, she would not be what was considered pretty. She wasn't even necessarily bad looking, simply... plain. She would have made a very good farmer's daughter, or village vendor. The only thing the least bit remarkable about her was her eyes—an impressive dark green color, seemingly lit from within.

At least, they were normally. As she looked around at her situation they were cloudy, blurred, as they settled on a mid-distance point, not looking at anything in particular. Her right eye was swollen half shut and ringed with bruises, and both were surrounded by her own tears and blood. She didn't make a sound, more asleep than anything else, not registering the people around her.

"Look, the whelp is getting up." The second ninja, Yama-kun, notified the other two. "Don't move, cunt." He warned the woman on the ground, shoving her back down. Her face slammed against the ground, eyes still open, air rushing out of her lungs.

She lay there, unmoving, for a few seconds, catching her breath. "I..." she started in a hoarse voice before a coughing fit, a good portion of blood expelled from her lungs before she started again. "Just... leave me alone..."

"And keep your mouth shut" the first ninja said stepping on her head to make her shut up.

"Yama..." The woman rasped, feeling her jaw pop with the weight, addressing the one that she could see from her place on the ground.

"Come on, let's just kill her and get this over with." the third tried to reason, hefting his pole.

"I won't..." she continued, struggling against the foot holding her down. "Plead...with you... Not for my life..."

Something seemed to trigger as she said this, launching multiple kunai, aimed precisely at where the ninjas stood, managing to not put a scratch on the woman.

They yelled then, as I felt something land hard by my hand. They all stumbled back, forgetting me in the apparent panic. My hearing was faulty, distorted as I tried to analyze the situation.

"Shit ... that!"

"Damn... Grass... attacking... now?"

Giving up on that plan, I felt around until my hand hit the weapon that had landed near it, holding it up as I got shakily to my feet. I gripped it tightly with both hands, ignoring the warm sticky sensation dripping slowly down my arms as I tried to search my attackers out by sound. I yelled something then, though too this day, I do not know what. One of them, possibly Yama, yelled as well, and I felt them leave, gusts of wind rushing past me.

I think I stumbled then, legs collapsing under me. I didn't get to fall, however, as strong arms caught me, ripping the weapon from my hands and lifting me unceremoniously. The blood spun in my head, dancing and pulsing, before my mind finally blanked out as he ran, silent as a ghost.

～＊～

Please review this, apologies for any dropped letters or odd formatting, my computer is insisting on being Japanese right now, and likes to mess with things.


	2. Chapter 2

I awoke on the ground, sitting with my back propped against damp stone. My hands were still wrapped around a weapon the rational part of my mind should have told me was long gone.

I looked around out of habit, but found only the murky darkness that had hovered around me since a particularly harsh blow to the head earlier.

"Who…?" I started, but stopped at the sound of my own voice. Relieving one hand of its desperate grip on a missing weapon, I raised it to my head, finding a large gash there.

"Don't move, please." A low male voice- possibly the person who brought me here- said from nearby. He paused before continuing. "Those men are gone. I'm not sure what's going on here, but I have things to attend to." He paused again, moving with a scuffle of shoes on the floor of what I can only assume to be a cave. "Please stay here." With that, he was gone, leaving me to silence and my thoughts.

It's not as if I was unused to sitting alone, or to waiting. My parents ran a shop selling herbal remedies and flavorings—and poisons under the table, of course---and spent hours or days out searching for ingredients while I was left to mind the shop. I could amuse myself hundreds of ways, and there was no shortage of things to think about now.

I was in a cave, more of less in the custody of the strange man who seemed to have rescued me. He could have associates, for all I could see. His voice didn't sound familiar, and it would be safe to assume he had no connection to Yama's group. Still, there seemed like there was a lot going on in the area ninja-wise, not to mention the traders that passed through the borders here all the time.

To a casual observer, and possibly a well trained one at that, I probably seemed to be asleep as I sat perfectly still for what could have been hours. He might have even thought that when he came back almost silently, with just enough of a footfall as he got close to make me look up in sudden surprise, hand gasping a rock to fend off an attacker, all before I realized that it was just him returning. I had so many questions for him, but I didn't have the voice or the energy to actually ask any of them. This thought scared me, making me wonder vaguely if I was hurt badly enough to die. It seemed like it then, near blind and broken.

"We have to move." His flat words came suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts. "They will find us here, sorry." The sorry caught me off guard; the slight hint of regret in his words was more interesting than the words themselves. More interesting at least until I found myself lifted again, carried away from that camp as I fought to stay conscious, terrified that if I closed my eyes, they'd never open again. I dug my nails into my palms, feeling broken bones jostle in his pounding run, recently closed gashes reopening to gape into the clammy air.

"Stay here." The man said in his gruff voice as he set me down remarkably gently. "I am going to get some supplies." He was gone from my side before I could work up the strength to argue, his footsteps echoing around me, making it impossible to tell if he'd actually left, or was just retrieving things from the area. The place was not as damp, the mist not penetrating the air in here.

He returned to my side quickly, setting things down around him without another word. I sat up, trying to locate him among the noise he was making. I started speaking, only managing a meaningless word or two before I stopped. My voice was raspy, hoarse, each sound feeling like a knife twisted in my chest. Still, I needed to speak, to find a way to tell him.

I wanted nothing to do with his medical supplies, wanted to know why he would even consider giving them to me. He was a ninja by way of speaking, by his running gait and silent approach. A ninja, someone not overly given to kindness unless it suited their plans. "What… do you want…?" I finally managed, casually setting down the rock I had picked up to defend myself with. Any plan that involved attacking a ninja, especially when I was completely blind, seemed like a very bad plan.

"I would like your name." My rescuer- or captor if you saw it that way- said in a commanding tone. "But right now you should stay still so I can treat you wounds."

Not one to argue with such a business-like tone of voice, I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around my knees, letting the ninja get at my back. I winced, reopening many of the cuts as I moved, and the ninja was silent for a moment before he started working, his hands gentle but strong.

His gentleness somehow made me wonder why, why he was doing any of this. Bringing in an injured person to interrogate wasn't too strange, Yama's group had done it many times before, but using precious medical supplies on someone who could easily be a spy? I wanted to know why he was doing it, if maybe he was someone that I knew, but I also wanted to stop hurting as much. It was the second that won out and I kept my mouth shut, trusting my fate to the strange man.


	3. Chapter 3

He patched me up quickly, hands never straying as many men's would have. It was in fact the opposite; he seemed to avoid touching me at all. He bandaged what wounds he could through the tears in my clothes without moving them, and made splints for the most obvious broken bones. It didn't seem to be the most effective way to treat wounds, but I didn't bring it up, not wanting to alienate the only person who seemed willing to help me, even if his motives were still rather unclear.

He was silent as he worked, and I wondered if he really had much training in bandaging others. He seemed rather strange to begin with, taking in an injured person while he was out on a mission. At least, I assumed he was on a mission, because why else would he be in this blasted cave to begin with? Also, his nervousness when it came to touching me made me think of him as a younger man, perhaps even in his teens. Even then, it seemed odd to me. I may not have been the prettiest girl, but I was hardly ugly enough to be scaring people away.

At the same time, a young ninja probably wouldn't be on a mission by himself. Unless, of course, he wasn't actually on a mission. He could be keeping me here for his own amusement, or he could be a rogue.

"I'm almost finished." The ninja said suddenly, after it seemed he had been working on me for hours. "You should rest when I'm done." I didn't say anything, as his words needed no response. It seemed more of a command than a suggestion, and I wondered if he had something to do that he wanted me asleep for. It was strange, though, how steady he kept his voice when his hands were shaking.

He did in fact finish quickly, moving away from me wordlessly. I let my eyes slide closed; turning my back to the direction he had approached me from and leaned against the cave wall to my side, pressing my face against the cool, damp stone. There was the feeling that I needed to say something to him, though I had no idea what. As the feeling grew, I resigned myself to it, murmuring a soft 'thank you' that I wasn't sure that he would hear.

He did, though, and stopped moving, the area falling silent for a moment. "You're welcome…." His voice was steady, but something else. Something hidden deep under the layers, some sort of emotion. Before I could think much about it, though, I was asleep.

I awoke some time later with no real way of knowing how long I'd been asleep. As I slowly started to move, the rough rock of the cave wall scraped against my cheek, throwing me into full wakefulness and reminding me what had happened in the past however many hours had passed. I was in a cave with the man who had rescued her. He was a ninja, a person with secrets. A person who didn't take too kindly to being snuck up upon or surprised. That idea firmly planted in my head, I sat up, drawing my legs underneath me, keeping my eyes closed and my face aimed firmly at the ground.

"I'm awake now." I said to the crisp, cool air. I had no way of even knowing he was there, or if he was long gone, maybe taken my sleep as a chance to get far away, after coming to regret what he'd done. But it didn't do any good to think like that, and so I continued. "I…. is there something that I shouldn't see, or can I open my eyes now…?" I phrased it awkwardly, but there didn't seem to be a good way to say what I was trying to get out.

"It is safe." He replied without any sounds of motion. He was careful, if he had kept things hidden the whole time in case I woke up. Of course, when I opened my eyes, I remembered the other reason he could have for his imperturbability. I couldn't actually see anything, a fact that greatly reduced the probability of me seeing something I shouldn't. The question was whether he knew about that or not, and at the moment I sincerely hoped not. Blind people were simply far too easy to take advantage of.

I snapped out of my thoughts just in time to catch him as he started speaking again. "It seems that you know a bit about ninjas." He said slowly, phrasing it almost like a question. It annoyed me, But since I wasn't sure quite why, I decided to answer him anyway.

"The world is built on them." I said before thinking about it and realizing that I had been so vague that I didn't even understand what I had meant. Shaking my head, I started over. "They have their secrets, and a smart person does not pry into their lives." Tracking him by the sound he had made, I opened my eyes and looked right at the spot he was at, trying to fool him into thinking that my sight was just fine.

"Wise," he said simply, pausing before he continued. "However, it seems you may have pried a little, judging from that scene earlier. When you are ready, I would like to know more about those three I saved you from."

Those words were a subtle reminder; I still owed him, in a big way. I sighed and looked down, giving him a slight nod. "As repayment for your help…." I didn't like being trapped like this, but I did owe him, and so I bit my lip and traced my fingers lightly along the stone ground, thinking of what I would say. My brain was still fuzzy- either from large amounts of sleep or multiple blows to the head, or some combination of the two- and it made thinking and speaking rather difficult. I finally sighed again, closing my eyes. "I will answer your questions, Rescuer…. Any and all."

"Thank you." His voice was quiet, almost hollow sounding, but he didn't make any response to me calling him 'Rescuer'. It was as good as anything, I supposed, if he was not going to tell me his name. It didn't seem right to ask him, and I could convince myself it was solely because it was taboo for civilians to ask ninja about themselves and their lives, and not because of the fairy tale-esque glamour of being rescued by an unnamed man. At least, I could if I didn't think about it too much.

"What is it you want to know?" I asked, taking charge of the conversation and trying to rid my mind of the childish ideas that parents take so much effort to implant in their children.

"Your name would be a good start." The ninja said pleasantly, seeming almost like he was humoring me in my lack of knowledge about interrogation techniques.

It was a rather inane question, and I laughed harshly, cutting off with a wince when I felt something bubbling inside my lungs. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you…." I managed to get out without much more pain

"Alright, but I would like to know anyway." He said in a rather calm tone, not seemingly bothered by this. "However, I suppose it is not the most important piece of information. Will you at least tell me what you were doing out here in the border lands?"

I hesitated, considering what he said for a few moments before opening my eyes and turning them in the direction his voice had come from, sitting up straighter at the same time. "Firefly. That's my name, Firefly." I closed my eyes again, trying to think, to find a way to answer his question. "I was trying to go…. Somewhere…." In truth, I didn't know where I had been going, didn't know if I had ever known. My mind was simply too foggy, and it was a fight to remember even small pieces of information that had happened in the past week.

I hesitated here, waiting for some sort of comment or noise, but none came. After taking my time to catch my breath and carefully think out what would come next, I began speaking again. "I—in my younger years I was… Enchanted, I suppose… by the idea of a 'ninja'. I left home to find the Hidden village, though when I got there, I found myself penniless, begging coins on the street, before I was taken in by a group of ninjas. They kept me around, possibly amused by keeping me as a pet…" I paused, waiting again for a reaction as I caught my breath.

Again there was nothing, though I fancied I heard his breathing change ever so slightly. "In the end…" I continued with a sigh, wondering what sort of cold hearted bastard had no sympathy for any of this, "I started making some of my own choices, instead of simply doing what I was told. Not always the best choices, mind, but it felt good to be guiding my own life. After that, I got sick of the whole thing. Secret meetings, codenames; none of it is really my cup of tea. I tried to leave, and as you probably guessed, they weren't to happy about it…" I finished in a dry voice, leaning my head back against the wall, looking sightlessly up at the ceiling. "I don't know what else I can tell you…"

"Perhaps you know what they're doing here?" My Rescuer asked expectantly, to which I could only shake my head sadly

"They had some sort of orders… I planned to escape when they left me on this mission, but they brought me along." I looked back up at where he stood, trying not to bite my lip nervously and reopen the split in it. "Are you going to send me back there…?" It seems now like a stupid question, but some mixture of pain and fear made me seriously believe that the worst thing possible would happen.

"No!" he snapped, then hesitated, as if surprised by his own vehemence. "You can stay here until you heal a bit, or I can figure a way to get you out of here. It is quite obvious that you are noncombatant." He said in a calmer voice, and I noticed for the first time his odd manner of speech, not like anything I had ever heard before. Was it something he picked up for this mission, or was he from somewhere different? It was another of the many questions I had about him, and it seemed unlikely that she'd ever find answers for any of them.

"I wish I could tell you more…" I finally sighed, deciding that he was trustworthy, at least as trustworthy as ninjas ever were. "I only ever knew them by their codenames, even…. Yama, Ata, and Naga were the ones that you saw…. The other two in the house were Saru and Mati…. They called me Ai. I don't know if this helps you any…."

"Thank you." He replied without emotion, moving for the first time in the entire conversation. "Please rest if you need to do so. I have more things that I need to do." He moved thing as he walked around the area, and I suddenly wished that he would leave me something to protect myself with when he left, but despite all I'd said to him, speaking was still rather painful, and so I didn't ask. Maybe my thought showed on my face, however, because he seemed to sense it. "You should be safe here, and I will be back as soon as I can."

"Please come back safe…" I said softly, though it was more for my own sake that out of any real worry about him.

"Thank you." He said again, possibly thinking he was being too quiet for me to hear him, barely louder than his light footsteps as he left.


End file.
